hard suspension

[david pollard]

does any one suffer from a firm ride on the heavy weight 500? the new rear shocks are on the softest setting, the front forks pump up and down ok but do not absorb the bumps very well!! regards david

[clive]

Put some weight on. Worked for me

[clive]

More helpfully perhaps what is the history on the bike? Possible it's been used for hauling a sidecar? If so springs may be uprated and too stiff for solo use. You could try dropping the same amount out of each front slider. I would start with removing half a fluid Oz. Putting in too much can make the front seem very heavy and unresponsive.

[CliveSW]

Just back from a little ride in France on my G80, which I fitted with new rear suspension and found it very hard , even on the softest setting. I'm thinking of looking into changing the springs.

[Richard Mills]

I found the rear suspension on my BSA B33 to be very hard. Took the plunge and shelled out for a pair of Hagon shocks and got a much more comfortable ride. I compared the spring rating with the cheapo ones which had been fitted and they seemed to be about the same. The problem was that the cheap type ones were over-damped compared with the Hagons.
Only thing that I didn't like with the Hagons was that they use metric sized bushes.

[spookefoote1956]

You could always cut the bottom lugs off the swinging arm, fabricate and weld a new one to accept some boingy Japanese shocks. Alternatively, get an engineer to mill a union which sits over and bolts to the bottom lug so that you don't enter the world of no return.

Either way I'm sure eyebrows are being raised with the very thought of it all!

[Andy51]

I used to ride a rigid Triumph TRW twin (with a what felt like a cast iron saddle painted to look like leather) in the TA years ago, it toughened me up and now unyielding Jampots feel like cushions of air! Andy

[david pollard]

thanks for all the comments, im eating like mad now to put weight on!!, on the subject of replacement rear shock, i recall many years ago when stripping down the originals, the inside chrome spring cover had three dimples facing out to stop the two tubes touching, and chrome wearing off, the modern units do not have that simple mod, so all the chrome wears of in little time!!

[spookefoote1956]

I still reckon it would be easy to manufacture some brackets and chuck some shockers off an SR500. A little bit shorter I think and certainly more comfortable.

[leswaller]

does any one suffer from a firm ride on the heavy weight 500? the new rear shocks are on the softest setting, the front forks pump up and down ok but do not absorb the bumps very well!! regards david

Talk to the people at Hagon, they will sell you some softer rated units